Year: 2012

The eReader version is only 99 cents! Chapter One In the silence between the clatter of dishes and the waitress’s barked order, Charlie Sherman heard himself dripping. He counted tiny splashes on the laminated menu: one, two, three. Waving to get the server’s attention accelerated the patter. Interesting. It was late on the night after Christmas, and less than an hour before, Charlie had been a semi-respectable stay-at-home suburban father, failing novelist, and not-so-loving husband. Now he was homeless, and he looked the part, in a torn blue nylon bomber jacket, tattered beige Henley shirt, paint-spattered gray sweat pants, and holey black basketball shoes. To top off his grungy appearance, he wore basketball goggles—a necessity after he’d broken his tortoise-shell frames during a…

Update: Guilty of stealing $32,000 from PTO; 15 years’ probation and restitution. See story. She also claims she made a “mistake.” Rarely do I get hold of a story that fits both my blogs: Chain Gang Elementary and Brambleman, but this one does. It’s a case of PTO embezzlement coming out of Forsyth County, Geeorgia–the setting of Brambleman. One of my readers tipped me off to the case of Jamie Garfield, who is expected to plead guilty to charges of embezzling $8,000 from the Cumming Elementary School PTO, which she served (and I use that term loosely) as treasurer. This case has been knocking around for a couple of years. According to the reports I’m hearing, other parents are outraged that she…

I remain appalled at the “content” (or rather, the lack thereof) taught in Georgia’s 8th grade classrooms about the state’s history—and especially the short shrift its deep and rich African-American history receives. Of course, the same can be said for the nation’s classrooms during Black History Month. (Why February? Comedian Chris Rock once said, “Because it’s the shortest month.”) There would be no need for such a thing as Black History Month if African Americans’ story had been told properly and effectively all along, but that didn’t—and hasn’t happened—so here we are. Well, here’s something. When I worked on my father’s book, this story—which I’d never heard before—jumped off the page at me. I was so enthralled by it that I later wrote…

Maybe Obama is like Lincoln, after all. I hope they don’t adopt this flag. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Following President Barack Obama’s re-election, residents of more than 30 states have signed petitions asking to secede from the union. Georgia, with one notable secession under its belt, is among them. By Wednesday, the Georgia petition online at whitehouse.gov soared past the 25,000 signatures needed to prompt an official White House response. The petition asks that the onetime 13th colony be allowed to create its “own new government.” Ah, Carumba. Read more.

I saw a Youtube video of an Oklahoma TV weatherman giving out driving directions to Canada for disgruntled voters. Romney took the state with more than tw0-thirds of the vote. That was kind of funny, but people need to simmer down. From Talking Points Memo: The re-election of President Obama last week was just too much for some conservatives to handle. Although the doomsday pronouncements of the past four years have yet to materialize, some Americans couldn’t help themselves from freaking out over the news that the president will be here for one more term. TPM lists “the six most bizarre reactions” to Barack Obama’s victory: Obama’s Hired, But You’re Fired Burying Gold On The Ranch Riots And Racial Slurs Four More…